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Jeroen Dijsselbloem has warned the UK to change its attitude

Jeroen Dijsselbloem complained ministers were still making contradictory statements on key issues such as the single market while business leaders, investors and MPs demanded clarification on the Government’s negotiating position.

Mr Dijsselbloem, finance minister of the Netherlands and a vocal critic of London’s approach to Brexit so far, also accused Britain of trying to retain all the benefits of EU membership without accepting its responsibilities or obligations.

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The things that I’ve been hearing so far are incompatible with smooth, incompatible with orderly

Jeroen Dijsselbloem

He said: “It can be smooth and it can be orderly but I think it requires a different attitude on the part of the British government because the things that I’ve been hearing so far are incompatible with smooth, incompatible with orderly.

“If the UK wants to have full access to the internal market then it will have to accept the rules and regulations that go with that internal market.”

When asked if Britain was seeking to “have its cake and eat it” Mr Dijsselbloem said: “I was going to stay away from that cliché but you are absolutely right.”

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EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels

Earlier, the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier, said Brexit talks would have to be completed within 18 months so the deal could be ratified by March 2019.

He said: “There is a two-year time frame on that process. We have been clear that we are not seeking to extend that process. 

“In terms of how long the actual negotiations take place, clearly that is a matter that will resolve itself as a result of the negotiations.”

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Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem

Mr Barnier said the sooner talks got under way the better.

He said: “We all have common interest in not prolonging this state of lack of certainty.”

He also said Britain was going into the talks with goodwill and was seeing that reflected by its EU partners.

A Downing Street spokesman said the Government did not want Brexit negotiations to go beyond the two-year limit set under Article 50.